Shipping container for live chicks



Jan. 21, 1930. w. D. LANE 1,744,125

SHIPFING CONTAINER FOR LIVE CHICKS Filed Oct. 24, 1927 7 W 6- 6/ 00000: oooooq D LAN ummto o shipping containers and particularly to con- Patented Jan. 21, 1930 UNITED STATES;

PATENT: oF'Fi-CE 'WIILLIAM D. LANE, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR TC EGG-ERSS OFLYNG COMPANY, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA, A CORPORATION OF NEBRASKA,

SHIPIP'lt-NG COlNTAINER FOR LIVE CHICKS Application'filefi October 24, 1927. -Serial No.22 8,347.

My invention relates to the general class of tainers for the shipment of live chicks by ex press and parcel post, It is the object of my invention to provide an eflicient and inexpensive shipping container, having ventilatedcompartments therein for the chicks, and havingmeans enabling a plurality of the containers to be stacked one upon another without interfering with the ventilation of the compartments. The problem to which my invention oilers an eflective and satisfactory solution, relates especially tothe poultry ra1sing industry, in which there has been a marked tendency in recent times toward the centralizing of incubation in large hatcheries,

merely the maintenance of suitable temperawhich'may be operated efliciently by persons especially skilled therein, and from which the young chicks are distributed to locations where they are to be raised. The shipment of young chicks for considerable distances by express and parcel post is entirely practicable by reason of the fact that for approximately seventy hours after hatching the chicks require neither food nor water, but

ture to prevent chilling, a suitable supply of fresh air, and sufficient separation to prevent piling and smothering oi? some of the chicks by the others of the assemblage. To facilitate the control of temperature conditions it is desirable that the containers used for ship- I v ment thereof be of such capacity as to accommodate'large numbers of the chicks, whereby the natural warmth of their bodies may be combined to prevent chilling. It is also desirable that the containers be relatively light in weight, while having, of course, sufficient strength to resist crushing or deformation.

The placing of a large number of the chicks in a single container requires the provision of -means for separation or segregation thereof into groups, each containing small enough number ofthe chicks to avoid piling and smothering. Forconvenience of handling during transportation, it is desirable also that the shipping container be of such construe tion-that a plurality thereof may be placed in a stack or pile, or, where shipment thereof is .made to a common destination, a plurality of the containers secured together to'flform va single package and be handled as-a unit.

The above mentioned qualifications are all embodied in the shipping containers constructed in accordance with my invention and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a shipping container embodying my invention, and Flg. 2 s a side view of one of the con-- tamers, having a second, container superposed thereon, the latter being in transverse verhigh heat-insulating qualities. The container has a box-like rectangular body-portion comprising a flat bottom 5. and vertical sides 6, the latter having horizontal rows of perforations 7 spaced intermediate their upper and lower edges. For the open top of the body-portion there is provided a removable cover comprising the flat sheet 8, having downwardly turned edge portions 9 adapted to fit over the edges 6 of the body. The cover 8 has therein rows of perforations 10 arranged as shown, and also has the longitudinal and transverse slots 11, each extending from a point near the edge-portions 9 to a point near the center at which the slots would intersect if prolonged. The space within the container is divided longitudinally and transversely by vertical partitionsheets 12 of which the laterally bent ends 13 are suitably secured to the sides 6 of the body, the central parts of the ing reversely notched an interengaged'with each other, similarly vto the strips used in forming fillers for egg-crates. The slots 11 in the cover are so arrangedthat when the container, said slots are alined respectivelyw'ith the transverse and longitudinal parti tion-sheets, and the latter are provided at their upper edges with rectangular extended portion which; project through the slots and term ate in a co'mmonhorizontal plane above thecover. 'The partition-sheets are so artition-sheets be placed in superposed relation, the bottom 5- of one resting upon the edges of the partition-extensions 14 of the one beneath, as shown in Fig. 2, and the cover 8 of the lower container is thus sufiiciently spaced from the bottom of the superposed container to allow the efiicientventilation of the compartments of the lower container by circulation of air which enters at the perforations 7 in the sides 6 and emerges through the perforations 10 in the cover 8. A plurality of the superposed containers may be secured together by merely binding the same with cords, and thereby formed into a single package for convenience of handling when the several containers have a common destination.

In a container such as illustrated, the height may be approximately six inches, and the length and breadth between eighteen and twenty-four inches. size, the division thereof by partitions into four compartments makes each compartment of such size that the chicks therein are not liable to injury by piling and smothering, and each compartment is amply ventilated by the air-inlet ,preforations 7 at the sides thereof and the perforations 10 at the top. The inner sides of the compartments, formed by the partitions, will be warmed by the body-heat of the chicks, and the latter will instinctively assemble alongsaid inner sides when the exterior temperature is lowered, or,

when the temperature is raised, move toward the cooler outer sides of the compartments, being thereby also more nearly in the path of the air circulating between the perforations 7 and 10.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a structure of the class described, the

combination with the container having bottom, sides and removable cover, of vertical partitions secured intermediate the sides and dividing the inclosed space into a plurality of compartments, said partitions having portions extended through slots in the cover, said extended portions of the partitions having upper edges lying in a common-plane above and spaced from the cover, and the sides and cover being perforate'to enable circulation of air through the several compartments.

2. A shipping container for live chicks,

comprising a box having a rectangular body In a container of suchportion, a removable cover, and partitions extending transversely between opposite sides of the body-portion, the cover and sides of the body-portion having ventilating perforations therein, the cover having therein slots alined vertically with thepartitions, and the partitions having portions extended through said slots and terminating at a common level above the cover, whereby to comprise spacing supports when a plurality of the containers are super osed.

3. A structure as set orthv in claim 2, in which the partitions are formed by corrugated fiber-board havingthe corrugations of the sheets extending vertically.

4. A shipping box for chicks including partitions in said box havingportions projecting through the walls of the said box for spacing other articles therefrom when in use.

'5. A shippingbox including bottom, top A and side walls, some of said walls having ventilating apertures therein and spacing members extendin from within the box through at least one 0? said walls and projecting outwardly therefrom for spacing sai'd box from other articles placed adjacent thereto when in use.

, WILLIAM D. LANE. 

